A Pirate’s Party for Me!

It be time for me account of me pirate party, mates!
No, I don’t think I can write an entire post in pirate speak. You’ll just have to enjoy the occasional pirate outburst. I’m going to give you the guest’s view of the party today. Next week, I’ll break it down and give you the behind the scenes, DIY tips, with my resources and ideas. So come on back, if ye be planning yer own pirate party. (It comes and it goes.)Our little scalawags were sent word of the gathering by a message in a bottle. It contained a rough map of our neighborhood with a big red X, where our house would be.
This was the scene when the guests arrived. (Minus the serving girl and the miniature scalawag in pink).“X” Marks the spot! Inside, the “Jolly Roger” hung from the banister to let them know they were in pirate territory.
First stop: “The Buccaneer Outfitters”

Here, the lovely Kristin (my SIL) outfitted each fledgling pirate with a bandana, a tattoo, an eye patch, a miniature telescope, and for those who were man enough to wear make-up, a little temporary facial hair.
Next, each pirate went to The Carpenter’s Shop, to make their special chests to carry the treasure they were sure to find before this adventure was over. They decorated them with jewels and gold coins.

Then it was time for a hearty meal before hitting the high seas, at Trenton’s Tavern:

On the menu was “Boiled Cracken” served on a bed of seaweed with a sprinkling of fish.(OK. You all better chuckle at this one, since I don’t think any of the boys had seen “Pirates of the Caribbean” and had any frame of reference for the Cracken. The deviled egg is a sailboat about to get destroyed by the Cracken. Well, I thought it was pretty funny!)

The Captain, (a.k.a, the birthday boy), was brought a special dessert, in honor of his special day, but before the guests could partake, he had to put an end to the miniature cannon battle that ensued between the two cake ships.

After the table was cleared, our young pirates, soon realized that the table cloth they had been eating on was actually a treasure map. And it looked something like the backyard er, ocean out back of the tavern. So they headed out on their adventure…The mast of a ship taking shelter from the storm (it actually rained all morning—hard—preventing much of the set-up that was intended for the outdoors, but pirates have to sail the stormy seas, so the adventure continued)

The treasure map on the table in the tavern, led them to the shipwreck (boat-shaped sandbox, where they found another treasure map in a bottle.

That map lead them to the Pirate’s Graveyard, where they found, yet another map in a bottle. This map directed them to the Pirate’s lookout…

The final bottle found there had a map that lead them to the “Golden Gorge” around the side of the house castle.

Buried under some branches there, Captain Trenton found this Chest—obviously filled with amazing treasures!

But there was no key! What did those scalawags, do? Why they took the chest to the hangman, who strung it up, and let them all have turns trying to bust it open.

When at last the chest was opened, the pirates found plenty of booty to share, and a message, just for captain Trenton. The message told him that his treasure be waitin’ inside the hall of the castle in a black chest plain to see. Back in the “castle” the captain and his crew found the large chest filled with presents for the captain to open. And all were happy, for a while…

…But those pirates are a scurvy bunch and soon had taken to the high seas again, in two different boats and quickly got into a waterballoon cannonball battle (and not a single photo of the battle came out, Arrgh!) When they ran out of cannonballs, they drew the swords that they had earned upon completing their adventure, and continued their ferocious battle…

…until their parents came and took them and their treasure chests full of booty, back to their own lands.

The End

(Adding this post to Kimba’s DIY Thursday, because she is giving away a really cute apron, I’d love to win).

P.S. For behind the scenes detail about how I put this party together, see this post and this post.

love it, and I bet your son did too! I am planning a pirate party for my 3 year old and saw that cake on familyfun blog.. question: did the cake fall apart on you?, did you use straws?.. storebought icing or did you make it homemade? What cake mix did you use, or did you make from scratch too.. !! Details!! Thanks

You are my HERO! We just moved into a new house and it's disaster time, but it's also birthday time!! My little guy is begging for a pirate party and I know this would be the end all of parties for him. I'm stealing a bunch of your ideas and thank you a million for all the background info. You are a genius!!

[…] kendra 14 Comments My son has had some pretty cool birthday parties in the past. While the robot, pirate and rocket parties were huge successes, I wanted this year to be a little different. Partly because […]